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U.S. soldiers in Iraq spend hours—sometimes days—on patrol hunting
insurgents and dodging roadside bombs. But when they get back to base,
they can pick up a case of Dr. Pepper, buy the latest DVD and get a
Pizza Hut meal back to the room to relax after a hard day at war.
A soldiers life isn’t what it used to be.
Commanders say providing a good quality of life is essential to keeping
volunteer troops in the military. Having a chance to skip the mess hail
and go to Pizza Hut, Burger King or Subway—Popeye’s Fried Chicken and
Taco Bell will be

To increase consumer demand for beef, the cattle industry must boost the
amount of flavor the product contains, said Gary Smith of the Center for
Red Meat Safety at Colorado State University.
Smith made the comment while explaining why people eat beef to a
gathering at the annual National Cattlemen's Beef Association
convention. He later explained to Dow Jones Newswires that although the
industry had focused on tenderness for the last few years, tenderness
alone would not win new beef consumers, although it might encourage some
who already liked beef to eat a little more.
"If tenderness were the issue, they'd eat

Having recently attended both the R-CALF and the Cattle Industry annual
conventions—the latter where NCBA, the CBB, ANCW, Cattle-Fax and
National Cattlemen's Foundation meet—I was struck by the contrasts I
observed.
The obvious first comparison, of course, is sheer size. At the national
R-CALF convention, there were never more than 100 cattlemen in the room
at any time during the three days. At NCBA-CBB joint sessions, thousands
of cattlemen crammed huge theaters and ballrooms. Committee sessions had
25 to 50 people in attendance setting policy. Their joint board of
directors' meeting had twice the number of people as R-CALF's "all-in"
sessions.

Korea has yet to even hint if, or when, it will lift its bans in place
on both U.S. and Canadian beef. While Japan has moved closer to lifting
its ban, sources with USDA said it appears Korean officials are waiting
for a full resolution between Japan and Canada and the U.S. before they
start the resolution process.
Korea did send a technical team to the U.S. last May to review and
validate the findings of the International Review Commission concerning
the U.S. protocols to prevent bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
from infecting beef in the future.
However, a high-level USDA official that

Re: Cattle Identification
Attention: Sarah Swenson:
Why do not cattlemen insert “microchip IDs” in the cattle as they do in
dogs now?
They would not be very easily removed at all—and would surely simplify
the procedure as well as decreasing costs!
Just was thinking about this after reading the article in WLJ.
I am retired now and have sold all our cattle since my husband (Clyde)
passed away in 1994.
Just always loved the cattle business!
Audrey Carner
Carner Hat C Ranch (no longer in business)
Chino Valley
Long-term solutions required
Since BSE was discovered in Canada, a tangled web of media hype,
international politics, scientific investigation and economic theory
have

After eight years of cyclical decline, cattle numbers finally rebounded
in the second half of 2004. The USDA annual cattle inventory report,
released Jan. 28, showed an increase in the U.S. cattle herd for the
first time since 1996.
The report indicated 95.8 million head of cattle were on U.S. farms and
ranches on Jan. l, which is 1 percent above the 94.9 million head
recorded in 2004.
The higher numbers were not a surprise to most cattle market observers
because of the much improved moisture conditions in many southern and
western cattle producing states. Above average cow-calf returns also
fueled herd

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing the Salt Creek
tiger beetle as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The
only three known populations of the species in the world occur in saline
wetlands in eastern Nebraska. The beetles are considered the rarest
insect in Nebraska and are already protected under Nebraska State law.
If the Salt Creek tiger beetle is listed under the Endangered Species
Act, the Service will work cooperatively with partners to conserve
habitat, said Ralph Morgenweck, director of the Service's
Mountain-Prairie Region.
In response to a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund and
several

Edwin J. “Ed” Carter
Edwin J. “Ed” Carter, 72, died Feb. 6. He was born in Torrington, WY,
Nov. 1, 1932, the son of Bill and Phyllis (Platx) Carter. He grew up in
Torrington and graduated from Torrington High School.
Following high school he went to work as a ranch hand for various
ranchers in the area and lived in Fresno, CA, Sheridan and Lovell, WY.
Carter spent four years working for Senator Malcolm Wallop on his ranch
near Sheridan. He then began his own business trimming cattle hooves and
preparing livestock for stock shows and traveled to Wyoming, Colorado,

The first new packing house to open in Alberta since BSE was discovered
in Canada recently processed their first cattle.
After pondering the idea of turning a shuttered chicken processing plant
into a beef facility over seven years ago, producers Reita and Stan
Sparks, Wanham, Alberta, revisited that plan and moved forward with it
after BSE was discovered back in 2003.
"It gave us a jolt to try something else," said Stan Sparks, who plans
to kill 70 animals a week at Hart Valley Processors near Wanham in the
Peace River region of the country.
Seven cattle were processed on Feb. 8, the

— Cow market remains strong.
— Calves stronger on weather, feeders struggling.
Fed cattle markets were slow to develop last week as little trade was
reported through Thursday. A small number of cattle traded between
$87-88 live, $138-140 dressed. A pick up in trade was expected Friday.
Early trade was $2-4 softer than the majority of market activity the
previous week.
Slaughter volumes continue to be a problem with just 573,00 head passing
through packing plants two weeks ago, 10,000 head lower than the prior
week. Packers processed 471,000 head through Thursday of last week,
which was the first week that weekly slaughter

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has concluded its
investigation into the latest case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
confirmed on Jan. 11. All animals tested through the investigation were
found negative for BSE.
The agency's investigation determined that 349 animals comprised the
birth cohort, which includes cattle born on the farm of origin within 12
months before and 12 months after the infected animal. Of this group, 41
animals were found alive and were euthanized. They tested negative for
BSE. Most of the other animals from the birth cohort had previously died
or been slaughtered. The investigation also identified the

— APHIS action not strong enough.
According to a report from USDA’s inspector general last week, several
Canadian exporters have permits that enabled them to export bovine cheek
meat to the U.S., even though it’s a prohibited product under USDA
import rules.
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) notified
Canadian permit holders that cheek meat is not allowed to be shipped to
the U.S. last Monday, Feb. 14. The inspector general said, however, it
was too late because over 30 tons of the product has already entered the
country. In addition, the inspector general expressed skepticism over
whether just asking

Large capacity poly forage applicator
In-cab controlled rates of dry forage preservative for hay or silage can
be easily managed with the Gandy poly forage applicator with positive
displacement metering. The 2.3 cubic foot capacity translucent hopper
has an instant shutoff and the application rate can be changed with the
touch of a dial. The hopper provides 100-150 lb. capacity to cover more
acres per fill, and the in-cab control allows rate adjustment to
compensate for changes in flow of hay or silage. The underfed metering
system eliminates dribble when not operating and is available in 2, 3 or
4-outlet configurations.

An expected ramping up of slaughter volume this year is expected to
result in cattle feeders’ struggling to show profits throughout 2005,
according to a cattle market analytics firm. In addition, that profit
deterioration will probably trickle down to producers supplying them
with placement cattle, particularly stocker operators.
During the annual Cattle Industry Convention Feb. 1-5 in San Antonio,
TX, analysts for Cattle-Fax, Lone Tree, CO, told producers that recent
herd rebuilding would result in almost 850,000 more fed steers and
heifers being available for processing and that a lot of beef from those
cattle would need to be discounted in

A recent survey of ranchers revealed that 75
percent of cattle producers are using the latest in DNA technology to
improve the cattle characteristics most associated with bettering the
quality of beef.
According to DNA testing company Bovigen, 75 percent of cattle producers
are using the latest DNA testing technology to improve the quality of
their beef cattle, and more than two-thirds of surveyed ranchers said
they are realizing economic benefits from the technology.
Forty-four percent of those who use the technology said they've seen
increased efficiencies in management, offering such anecdotal comments
as "it makes life simpler." Others gave long- term

South Dakota is moving forward with a beef certification program that
should boost profits for participating producers as well as meet
requirements for a proposed animal identification program.
South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds is pushing for a South Dakota beef
certification program because he says he is committed to raising the
standards for beef production in the state and making sure that
consumers all around the world know exactly what the state is doing.
“It’s a vision of South Dakota being known by consumers worldwide as the
home of the ‘World’s Best Beef,’” said Rounds.
Gov. Rounds introduced the program as part of

— Support stated for group’s action.
Attorney generals from Montana, North and South Dakota, Nevada, New
Mexico, Connecticut and West Virginia filed legal arguments in federal
court last Wednesday supporting the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal
Fund’s United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF) legal challenge against
USDA’s final rule regarding expanding imports of Canadian beef and
cattle in the wake of BSE in that country.
The attorneys general said they support the group's request for a
temporary restraining order because USDA was very “hasty” in setting a
March 7 implementation date for allowing more Canadian beef and live
cattle into the U.S.
“Our position is that

A South Dakota House committee last week rejected a plan to set up a
state beef checkoff system as a backup in case the U.S. Supreme Court
rules the national program unconstitutional.
The state’s agriculture committee voted 8-5 to kill the bill after
officials of South Dakota agricultural organizations acknowledged they
are split on the proposal.
HB1182 would have created a state checkoff system for beef if the
national system is declared unconstitutional.
Supporters argued that the state should impose its own fee of $1 a head
when cattle are sold so money would continue to be available to pay for
promotion and

A new EPD—Stayability—has been published in the American Simmental
Association (ASA) Spring ’05 Sire Summary and will soon be available
online.
Calculated by Colorado State University’s Center for the Genetic
Evaluation of Livestock, Stayability is defined as the probability that
daughters entering the herd will stay in production through 6 years of
age.
“Stayability is a compound trait in that several factors may influence
it,” said Dr. Wade Shafer, Director of Performance Programs at ASA.
“From a Simmental Seedstock Producer’s prospective, traits such as
fertility, soundness, productivity and temperament are candidates for
influencing Stayability. To the degree that these traits influence
commercial

A new study by an international task force, "Global Risks of Infectious
Animal Diseases," discusses the severe economic, social and political
impacts of disease outbreaks and outlines national and international
monitoring, surveillance and response practices.
The comprehensive study, issued by the Council for Agricultural Science
and Technology, was written and evaluated by the task force of 13
authors and four reviewers from France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom,
New Zealand, Canada and the United States. The paper brings together the
expertise and experience of scientists and researchers on the front
lines of this growing worldwide concern.
It includes a historical review of the